Govt officers' service matters open under RTI: CIC

New Delhi, Jan 29: Information relating to the service matters ofa government official was in public domain and can be supplied to anappellant, the Central Information Commission has ruled.

The Commission's decision came on an application of Mr S PParashar of Delhi, who had sought the information from the Ministry ofSocial Justice and Empowerment.

He wanted certified copies of the correspondence between theRehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and the Ministry relating to theproposal of counting of past Army service of Deputy Director(Administration) J L Kaushik for pension purposes, and certified copiesof the approval of the competent authorities.

The Ministry refused to give the information on the grounds thatit was personal information the disclosure of which had no relationshipto any public activity or interest and which would cause unwarrantedinvasion of the privacy of the individual.

Thereafter, Mr Prashar approached the Commission which came to theconclusion that the information asked for was in the public domain asthe officer's service matters were related to departmental affairs, andit could be furnished to the appellant in the interest of transparency.

The Commission directed the Ministry to provide the informationasked for by the appellant within 15 days of the issue of the order.

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